Monday, July 8, 2019; Day 2; Chillon, Zermatt

Today we leave Lausanne, visit the Chateau de Chillon and pass through Gruyeres on the way to Zermatt. We rose early and got our luggage ready to be picked up by 7:00 am. Looking south across Lake Geneva is France.

Lake Geneva Looking South

The American Embassy in Lausanne

We arrived at the Chateau de Chillon early, before it opened. The Chateau is toward the eastern end of Lake Geneva (https://www.chillon.ch/en/). It is a 12th century castle operated by the Counts of Savoy until the middle of the 16th century. Its primary purpose was to protect and collect tolls for use of the highway along the lake. The Swiss Bernese drove the Savoy out and took possession of the castle in 1536.

Wine Cellar

Basement Storage Area

Basement Prison

Plaque in the prison for Lord Byron for his poem "The Prisoner of Chillon" (a 392-line narrative poem written in 1816) chronicling the imprisonment of a Genevois monk, François Bonivard, from 1532 to 1536.

Dining Room

Looking out on Lake Geneva

 After leaving the chateau, we headed up to Gruyeres. Known for their cheese, we had a little time before our fondue lunch to walk around the town. Maria and I decided to check out the H. R. Giger museum...more precisely the H.R. Giger Museum Bar, across the street from the museum. Hans Ruedi Giger was a Swiss painter, best known for airbrush images of humans and machines linked together in a cold biomechanical relationship. Later he abandoned airbrush work for pastels, markers, and ink. He was part of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for design work on the film Alien. The HR Giger bar, captured the essence of the Alien creature.

We had a couple of drinks before heading to the restaurant of lunch.

 The town itself is not very large. I has a cobblestone main thoroughfare.

The lunch consisted of a classic cheese fondue with bread, potatoes, cocktail onions and pickles to dip into the cheese. Also they brought a block of cheese and used a raclette machine to melt the block of cheese for spreading on anything. Severed with several glasses of Swiss wine, it was all very good.

Back on the bus, we headed for Tasch. Our final destination is Zermatt, you cannot drive there directly. You have to take a train from Tasch to Zermatt. It took a couple of hours to get to Tasch and the train ride to Zermatt took about 15 minutes.

Band in the Zermatt square

Upon arrival in Zermatt, and before we checked into the Mont Cervin Palace Hotel, Paul walked us around the old part of the town where we could see the Matterhorn (will be getting closer tomorrow) and a street with several very old Swiss homes.

 

As we were walking down the main street, we were greeted by the daily goat parade.

Old wooden Swiss homes

Dinner tonight is up to us. We noticed a Shogun Sushi place as we walked into town from the train station and decided to give it a try. We order one of their boats. It was a fine dinner.

Tomorrow morning, we get to sleep in. We need to be at the Gornergrat Alpine Cog Railway station at 9:40 am. It will take us up to Gornergrat where we will get a good view (weather permitting) of the Matterhorn and surrounding peaks.